Pretender
by chocolate-colombo
Summary: He was blind the whole time. Rafael had the power to protect Carlos, and for the first time, he didn't. Bloodline companion story
1. Arrival

**This is another story that I think the title for it is kinda lame XD I was listening to that Foo Fighters song "Pretender," so the name stuck. **

**Here's a little short story that I am dedicating to TotallyLosingIt, who wanted a return of Rafael and his awesomeness. This story plot is her idea.  
**

**Hope you all enjoy. If you like it, you have her to thank :D ...But...if you hate it...then you have her to blame XD JK. Thanks Jasmine!  
**

* * *

"Carlos!" Logan's voice yelled, waking up the Latino from his deep sleep. The boys were on a plane to Minnesota, making a trip to go see their families.**  
**

"What?" Carlos whined. "I'm tired and we haven't even landed yet. Can't I just sleep a little bit more..." Carlos trailed off as he curled up in his seat and closed his eyes.

"Oh no," Logan said, shaking Carlos to prevent him from falling back asleep. "You're not going to sleep until we land. I don't want you dreaming about Minnesota blowing up or something like that."

Carlos raised his eyebrows. "You're still mad about Europe!" Carlos stated.

Logan stayed silent, shifting his gaze away from Carlos.

"Well don't worry about it," Carlos finally said when he realized he wasn't going to get a response from Logan anytime soon. "No way the dream I had is gonna come true."

Kendall and James were sitting in the row in front of Logan and Carlos. They both turned around to face their shorter friends. "That's what we all said about your British dream!" Kendall said.

Carlos shrugged. "That was then. This is now. My dream won't come true this time." He crossed his arms over his chest.

"What was your dream, anyway? James asked.

Carlos waved it off. "Nothing. Just one of those 'worst case scenario' dreams that's all."

"Ah," Logan spoke up. "You're nervous about meeting Rafael's girlfriend."

"I didn't say that!" Carlos said defensively. He hated how Logan figured out everything.

"You didn't have to," Logan replied with a smirk.

"You didn't dream about her dying, did you?" Kendall asked, having a panicked expression etched on his face.

Carlos looked at Kendall as if he was crazy. "Don't be ridiculous, Kendall." Carlos sighed. "I'm just afraid she won't like me. She was kind of mean in my dream."

"Yeah," James said. "He's nervous."

Carlos just rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he replied. He reached into his pocket, pulling out his iPod. Once he found a song that he was completely satisfied with, he put on his headphones and relaxed to the sounds of his music.

* * *

"Oh and whatever you do," Rafael said to Danielle, his girlfriend of seven and a half months. "Don't mention how he looks younger than he is. Don't call him adorable and don't tell him that he has chubby cheeks. He hates that."

Rafael and Danielle were to pick up Carlos and his friends from the airport. Danielle offered up her father's SUV, which could seat eight people comfortably and hold all the luggage.

"Don't worry," she comforted him. "I won't do or say anything that would embarrass you or him." They walked to the arrivals gate and waited.

"Rafael!" they heard a voice from behind them yell. They both turned to see four teenage boys running toward them.

Carlos dropped his carry-on and gave his brother a bear hug. "I missed you so much!" he yelled, but his words were muffled since his face was buried into Rafael's chest.

"I missed you too, hermanito," Rafael said as he returned the hug.

They slowly parted, and Rafael greeted Carlos' three best friends.

"Carlitos," Rafael said. He gestured over to Danielle. "This is my girlfriend, Danielle."

Carlos smiled at the pretty redhead. Her hazel eyes had a friendly glow to them. "Hi Danielle. It's nice to meet you. Rafael has said so much about you."

Danielle smiled in appreciation. "Rafael talks about you all the time. I think the relationship you two share is really cute."

Carlos was hoping that his face wasn't turning red at that moment. He looked over to his friends, then back to Danielle. "Uh, these are my friends. Kendall, James, and Logan."

"Nice to meet you boys," she said with a large smile. "I bet you guys are just so eager to get home, huh?" she asked, earning a tired "yes" from each boy.

Rafael helped the boys with their bags as they all walked to Danielle's SUV.

* * *

"You up for dinner with me and Danielle?" Rafael asked Carlos as he unpacked a few things in his old bedroom.

Carlos nodded eagerly.

"Great," Rafael replied. "Be ready in an hour okay?"

"Sure thing," Carlos replied. "I know you've only been dating her for seven months...but you guys already seem serious."

Rafael nodded. "We are," he answered. "But, we promised not to rush anything. We just make each other really happy, you know? I've never felt this way about a girl before." Rafael paused. "But...you know that I would never date a girl without the approval of my brothers. Dani met Omar's approval, and you know that says a lot. Now, I wanna get yours."

Carlos smiled. "I'm sure that me and Omar will agree on something this time."

Omar was currently at work. He's kept himself clean for the past two years, which Carlos was very proud of.

Carlos and Rafael talked a little more before Carlos got himself ready for dinner. He hated the idea of being a third wheel, but he'd suck it up for Rafael. Carlos always remembered hearing the happiness in Rafael's voice anytime the two brothers would talk about Danielle over the phone.

Carlos figured that if Danielle had the power to make Rafael happy under any circumstance, then he totally approved of Rafael's relationship with her.

Rafael and Carlos picked up Danielle, then headed to a casual restaurant called Ken's Kitchen. After the waiter took their orders and menus, they continued their lively conversation.

"...And then James and I accidentally lost the cow...more than once," Carlos said, telling Rafael and Danielle the time that the Palm Woods kids had to go green, but all of James' and Carlos' efforts failed miserably. "So Kendall ended tying up his partner, Jett, the guy in that show New Town High, and stuffing him in a box. Can you believe _that _won the week off?"

"Uh...yeah," Rafael confessed. "A cow? Really?"

"Okay, I know in retrospect, it seems kinda dumb," Carlos defended.

"There's no retrospect about it, it was dumb the minute you did it," Rafael said in a joking manner.

Carlos rolled his eyes as Danielle giggled. "Carlos," she said as she laughed. "You're so a-" she stopped when she saw Rafael stare her down. She was about to say 'adorable'. It was quite obvious. She cleared her throat. "...so admirable," she finally said.

"Thank you," he replied with a smile. Carlos looked at Rafael. "At least someone in this table has something nice to say!"

Rafael's phone began to ring, causing him to sigh. He already knew who was calling.

"Work, again?" Danielle asked.

Rafael nodded sadly. "I have pager duty this week."

"You should answer it," she recommended.

"You sure?" Rafael asked. "I don't wanna just leave you-"

Danielle cut him off. "Don't be ridiculous. Me and Carlos will keep each other company. Just go answer the phone and see what they need and come straight back, okay?"

Rafael sighed. "Okay, fine." He leaned in to kiss her before standing up to leave. "I'll be right back," he promised.

Once Rafael was gone, Danielle looked at Carlos and smiled. "So you and Rafael are really close, huh?"  
she asked.

Carlos nodded. "He's like my best friend."

"That's cute," she said, getting closer to Carlos. "I'm an only child, so I was never good at forming relationships with people, ya know?"

Carlos smiled. "Yeah. James is an only child and sometimes we have to remind him that the world doesn't revolve around him."

Danielle giggled. "So he thinks he's the front man of Big Time Rush, huh?"

Carlos shook his head truthfully. "We all agreed that Kendall should get that title. He's like our leader because he always keeps us together. Of course, with him being the leader, a lot of our fans have labeled him as their favorite."

"Well they're wrong," Danielle said. "You're _my_ favorite."

Carlos could feel himself blushing. "You're just saying that because you're dating my brother."

Danielle shrugged. "Maybe I am. Maybe I'm not. What can I say? I'm the fan of the underdogs."

"Well," Carlos said with a smile. "I can tell we're gonna get along just great."

"Yeah," Danielle replied. "I agree."

* * *

**Okay, so there was the first chapter! I hope you liked it. **

**I know Omar only got a mention in this chapter, but he will appear :D**

**Didja like that?**


	2. This is Bonding

**Yay! You guys liked the first chapter! I'm happy that y'all are happy!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"So you met Rafael's girl, huh?" Omar asked Carlos as the two of them played video games together. Omar had come to his parents' house after work. Since this was the first time Carlos and Omar had seen each other since Carlos' arrival in Minnesota, Carlos had anxiously waited for his oldest brother to show up.

Carlos smiled. "Yeah!" he replied happily. "They picked us up from the airport, then we went out to dinner."

Omar scoffed. "She's a clinger. Rafael better watch out. What do you think about her?"

Carlos shrugged. "She seems friendly. But I think I know where you're getting the 'clingy' characteristic from," he confessed. "She always sticks to him. Laughs at joke he made. I guess she really loves him. But overall, she seems really nice."

Omar nodded in agreement, though his little brother wouldn't be able to see it. Carlos' eyes were focused on the television screen as he furiously tapped the buttons on his controller.

"She told me I was her favorite member of Big Time Rush," Carlos happily announced. He didn't hear people say that very much so when someone _did _say that, it made his heart flutter.

Omar scoffed once again. "She really knew how to win your approval," he stated. "Me? Not so much. She had to work and prove herself worthy of my little brother."

Carlos raised his eyebrows in confusion. "Rafael told me that all she did for you was make you lasagna."

Omar acted like he was offended. "Well...she had to put the perfect amount of cheese! I don't accept lasagna from just anybody," he defended himself, crossing his arms over his chest, the video game long forgotten.

"But a week before I made this trip," Carlos stated. "I was talking to you over the phone and you said you were heating up a frozen lasagna from the store."

Omar just glared at Carlos, causing the smaller boy to feel a small amount of fear rise in his chest.

"Shutting up, now," Carlos said in a small voice.

"Good boy," Omar replied.

"Dani and some of her friends are throwing a party tomorrow night," Carlos began. "She invited me!...Well to come with Rafael, of course. But still, that was kinda nice of her."

"You'll be the youngest one there, most likely," Omar responded.

"I know. But I still wanna go. Besides, I'm eighteen now! Rafael almost didn't let me go either. I had to beg him."

"That's probably because there will be alcohol there," Omar said. "We don't want you mixing with any of that stuff yet."

"I'll be careful," Carlos promised.

Carlos knew what Omar was talking about. He knew how his brothers and father felt about alcohol, and Carlos had to respect that. Omar had done a lot of things, but he never got drunk. Not once. And he promised he never would.

And he kept that promise.

Carlos chuckled. "You know, on the plane, I was so afraid that Dani wouldn't like me."

Omar raised an eyebrow. "Why wouldn't she like you?"

Carlos shrugged. "I don't know. I just thought she would think I'm too immature or something. Then she'd get mad at Rafael because I really do take up a lotta his time and I thought she would dump him because she felt ignored," he rushed out in one breath.

"A girl doesn't just dump a guy because he spends a lot of time with his brother," Omar argued. "Besides, I heard from both you and Rafael that dinner went well. She doesn't hate and you're not gonna ruin their relationship. Rafael and Dani are in love. I've never seen Rafael like this before."

A small smile grazed Carlos' face as he nodded. "You're right. At least this dream won't come true," he muttered the last part.

"What was that?" Omar asked.

"Nothing," Carlos answered quickly.

"How long are you here, little bro?" Omar asked.

Carlos smiled. "Two weeks." It seemed Carlos' smile got bigger after every word he spoke. "That means fourteen days. I plan to spend seven of those days with you."

Omar smiled. It seemed that anytime Carlos came to visit home, he'd try to spend the most time possible with Omar, as if the younger one was trying to make up for all the lost time over the years.

"Sounds like a plan, shortie," Omar finally replied. "There's a new mall that opened. We could go there. Oh, and we needa go to the theater..." Omar trailed off and shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know everything you like yet."

"That's okay," Carlos said. There was no sound of disappointment or sadness in his voice. "Okay. Well, you already know that I like crondogs, hockey, football, singing, and dancing. Ooh. Did you know that my new favorite ice cream flavor is cookies and cream? I love that stuff and I could eat it all day but Mama Knight says I'll get sick if I do."

Omar chuckled. "Okay. Slow down, little guy. That's another thing we can do. I'll take you out for ice cream. How does that sound?"

Carlos nodded excitedly.

Carlos demeanor changed as he became a bit more serious. "You know, Omar. Rafael told me not to tell you this...but...he says that you still feel guilty about-"

"Stop it, Carlos," Omar commanded in a harsh tone. "Just stop."

"But I don't want you to feel like that!" Carlos continued. "Don't you understand that?"

"I understand that," Omar responded. "But Carlos. You don't get it, do you? You're the very definition of innocence. You haven't done anything wrong. Remember when you were five and you accidentally killed a squirrel? You cried! You kept saying that you were a murderer. Papi had to calm you down."

"Where are you going with this?" Carlos finally asked.

Omar sighed. "You have nothing to feel guilty about," he answered. "When Papi told you that you weren't a bad person for killing that squirrel, he said you couldn't be blamed for that. Because not only was it just an accident, but it was also just a squirrel...What I'm saying is...you and Rafael aren't just squirrels. You two are my brothers and getting over what I did to the both you is a little easier said than done, ya know?"

"But you love us right?" Carlos asked, receiving a nod from Omar. Carlos smiled. "That's what you should remember. That's what should hang over your head. Not what you did to me or the situation that Rafael was put in. You need to remember what you did to fix it. That's what really matters."

The two brothers remained silent for a few moments before Carlos spoke up again.

"Omar? D-does Dani know?"

Omar shook his head. "Rafael said he wouldn't tell her. He said she doesn't have to know unless I feel that it's necessary. She knows that Rafael was shot and that you were attacked but...Rafael didn't tell her any details."

Carlos nodded in understanding. "She doesn't need to know." Carlos' eyebrows perked up. He decided to change the subject. "You should go to the party with us!"

Omar shook his head. "Nah, I'm good," he replied. "From what I know about Dani, something tells me I wouldn't like parties she would throw."

"You mean tame parties?" Carlos asked.

Omar rolled his eyes. "No...just...I just know I wouldn't like her party, okay?"

Carlos nodded, pretending to understand. He was disappointed that Omar didn't want to go, but that didn't mean Carlos wasn't still excited about it. "Well if you change your mind," Carlos piped up. "I'm sure Rafael will let you come."

Omar scoffed. "I'm pretty sure I won't find myself at that party. I don't care how much you beg." He laid a playful punch on Carlos' arm.

* * *

**Here was a little fluffy brotherly love chapter. Real drama starts on the next chapter. And things won't be pretty from that point on.**

**But until then, don't forget to leave a review, por favor!**


	3. It's Party Time!

**Yeah! This chapter came up quick. I guess that's what happens when you leave me with a laptop, a whole bunch of free time, and nothing to do. XD**

**Enjoy this semi-long chapter!**

* * *

Carlos would admit that when he first arrived at Danielle's party, he felt a little uncomfortable. But as he and Rafael continued talking and meeting with everyone, Carlos began to blend right in.

When Dani was able to find the two Garcia brothers, she pulled them to her group that sat on the couch. "Hey guys!" she called out. Three girls and a guy on the couch looked up and waved as they saw Dani approaching with her guests. "This is my boyfriend Rafael. And this is his brother, Carlos."

One of Dani's friends recognized Carlos instantly. Her little sister was a huge Big Time Rush fan.

Carlos jumped when the stereo was turned on.

"Hey, Carlos!" One of Dani's friends called out. "Why don't you show off those dance moves of yours?"

Rafael gently nudged him, making Carlos step forward into the middle of the large living room.

Carlos wasn't shy or nervous. He started dancing, allowing his body and the sound music to guide him. When he heard people beginning to cheer him on, he danced even more. The only thing that stopped him was the song coming to an end and the "DJ" wondering what song to put on next.

After a couple of songs, Dani approached the Garcia brothers with two drinks in her hands. "Here you go," she said as she handed them the drinks.

Carlos started looking into the cup, almost as if he were inspecting it. Danielle noticed right away. She giggled. "Relax, Carlos. It's just punch."

Carlos laughed nervously. "I can't help that my dad's a cop. And back in LA, our producer and his assistant always warn us about Hollywood parties. You never know who handles the drinks, you know?"

"Well I know who handled our drinks," Rafael said before he took a sip from the cup. He smacked his lips in satisfaction. "Thanks Dani."

Carlos shrugged and started drinking from his cup. The punch was good, but he hated the strange aftertaste it left in his mouth.

Carlos downed the rest of the punch in his cup, but wasn't in the mood to get himself another cup. The aftertaste was just too bad. He went to where the snacks were laid out and began devouring chips and dip.

Carlos barely got picked his third chip, but put it back in the bowl when his stomach did a thousand flips. He groaned as the feeling of nausea continued to grow.

Rafael. Carlos needed to find Rafael. He scanned the house, his shoulders slumping when his brother was nowhere to be seen.

"Dani!" he called out to the red head as he saw her exit the kitchen. He quickly approached her, feeling his knees wobble a few times. "H-have you seen Rafael?"

Danielle began to think. "Um...I think one of the guys took him to the garage." She noticed the dazed and tired look in his eyes. "Are you okay, Carlos? You seem sick."

"Just a little dizzy," Carlos truthfully replied.

"Oh you poor thing," she replied out of sympathy. She felt his forehead. "I think you may be getting sick." She grabbed his arm and walked him a few steps. She pointed down a hallway. "You see down that hallway? My room's the last door on the left. Why don't you go lay down and I'll look for Rafael, okay?"

Carlos nodded. "Thanks, Dani," he replied, feeling completely exhausted. He followed her instructions without question. He passed three rooms before coming to Danielle's.

The picture on the dresser was proof that this was Danielle's room. There was a picture of her and Rafael together, his arm wrapped around her waist.

Carlos slowly crawled into the bed in the room and plopped on his back. He was laying down but he still didn't feel good. The world around him was still spinning, if not faster than it was a few minutes ago. He groaned in discomfort. Carlos wanted nothing more than for Rafael to walk through that door, ready to take him home.

But that's not what happened.

The door opened slowly. Carlos perked up his eyebrows, but his demeanor dropped when he realized that it was just Danielle.

"Sorry, Carlos," she said, seeming sincere. "We couldn't find Rafael."

"M-maybe someone should call him," Carlos suggested.

"I did," Danielle answered quickly. "I also left him a message to meet us in here." She took a seat on the bed. "Why don't you just wait here for him, okay?"

Carlos nodded in obedience, too tired to argue or suggest something else. He whimpered as his dizziness continued to overpower him.

"Shh," Danielle whispered. Carlos could feel her slowly running her fingers up and down his arm. "I'm sure you'll be okay by tomorrow."

Carlos felt his eyelids getting heavier, and everything at this point started to become one large blur.

"I'll keep you company until Rafael comes," Carlos heard her say. He felt Danielle's hot breath tickle his ear, and he squirmed, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. He could feel a small hand touch his chest and run up and down his torso.

"Wh-what are you doing?" he tried to asked, but he could hardly talk. Instead, his words had just slurred together, as if he was drunk.

Danielle didn't answer him...or at least, he didn't hear her say anything as she began running her fingers through his hair.

"Where's Rafael?" Carlos asked, hoping his words were clear enough for her to hear.

"I'm sure he's coming soon," Danielle replied softly, once again saying her answer into his ear as she continued softly ruffling his hair. "Just be patient and relax."

"I don't feel good," Carlos said pathetically. "M-maybe we should call Rafael again."

Carlos started reaching his hand into his pocket. His actions weren't very fast, due to whatever he was sick with. His hands were shaking weakly, and that kind of scared him.

But he became even more scared when he felt Danielle harshly grab at his wrist. "Don't," she whispered in his ear. But instead of her gentile voice, it was replaced by a harsh command, which made Carlos' heart beat ten times faster.

Carlos started breathing heavily. "Bu-but I need him," he said in a pleading voice. "I'm really sick."

"And Rafael is obviously busy." There it was again. The mean voice. It was as if the Danielle that Carlos had met at the airport and had dinner with was gone.

"Wh-what are you gonna do with me?" Carlos asked. He felt his eyes watering up as he thought up of worst case scenarios.

He felt her hand running up and down his torso once again, which he weakly swatted away. "S-stop. Please."

"Or you'll do what?" Danielle asked. "Fight me? You can barely move."

Through the fog in his eyes, Carlos could see the devilish smile forming on Danielle's face. "Please don't do anything, Dani. Think about Rafael."

"I am," Danielle replied with a smile.

Carlos breathed in sharply. "I promise I won't tell him anything if you just let me go." He couldn't believe he had just made a promise like that.

Danielle shook her head. "I know Rafael isn't going to find out." Danielle's voice sounded distant. "You won't remember a thing. I promise."

Carlos began shaking as Danielle began touching him everywhere.

"What did you do to me?" he asked.

Danielle smiled once again. Carlos was really starting to hate her and her smile. She kissed his cheek. "Just something to get you into a party mood. I know you'll thank me later."

Carlos weakly begged her to back off, but to no avail. He was surprised he was able to hold a conversation that long with the way he felt. Carlos weakly fought Danielle away. Whatever she had given him, whatever she poisoned him with, was having a powerful effect on him.

He felt Danielle plant another kiss on his face, then Carlos' world became black.

* * *

Carlos groaned as he woke up the next day. He was completely confused because he found himself in the guest room of Rafael's apartment.

So the question on his mind was: how'd he get here?

Carlos felt like mentally slapping himself. This is Rafael's place. He shouldn't be surprised to wake up here. Rafael brought him over all the time.

The party probably ended late. Rafael became extremely exhausted, so instead of dropping off Carlos at their parents' house, Rafael just took him home. Yeah, that had to be it. That was the only logical explanation Carlos could think of.

So why did he feel so...icky?

Carlos slowly rose from his bed, almost falling down when a wave of dizziness struck him. He took several deep breaths before the room stopped spinning.

"Rafael," Carlos addressed his older brother when he finally made it the kitchen. Rafael was cooking something that smelled amazing. "I-is that breakfast?"

Rafael shook his head. "You slept through the entire morning," he replied. "This is lunch." He practically shoved the spoon he was cooking with into Carlos' face. "Wanna try? I'm making spaghetti sauce...from scratch."

Carlos almost said yes, but the sight of the food made his stomach churn. He made a face, which Rafael noticed instantly, and shook his head.

"Still sick, little bro?" Rafael asked, truly concerned. Carlos nodded, making Rafael abandon his food to feel Carlos forehead. "Well you don't have fever..." he trailed off.

Carlos nodded as he groaned. "Wh-what happened last night?" he finally asked.

"You don't remember?" Rafael asked, Carlos shaking his head in response. "Yeah. Dani said you were pretty out of it."

Carlos raised his eyebrows. "Dani?" he asked. "What'd she say?"

"That you suddenly got sick after eating the chips," Rafael replied simply. "She said she led you to her room so you could lay down a bit. By the time she found me, you were out cold. We tried waking you up, a few times you _did _wake up, muttering something no one really understood." Rafael sighed. "Dani said that there was lobster in that dip you ate."

Carlos gave Rafael a surprised look. When he was seven, Carlos had an aunt and uncle that came over to visit his family for a month. It was nice having them over, but there was a dinner prepared by Tia Carmen that went horribly wrong.

Tia Carmen made lobster...and didn't cook it right.

Carlos sat at the dinner table, feeling completely obligated to eat the undercooked lobster that was making his stomach feel weird. When he finally finished his dinner, he said good night to his family, then went to the bathroom, throwing up everything he had eaten that day.

Growing up, the sight or smell, even a mention of lobster made Carlos want to hurl. To him, lobster brought back memories of the badly done meal, so he always stayed away from it...

...until he moved to LA.

A few months ago, Griffin had a dinner thrown for Fujisaki and everyone who worked for him. The guest list included Big Time Rush. They were at the very bottom of the list (they were able to peek a glance at it), but they were happy that Griffin even thought of them at all.

Carlos was excited...until he found out the the main course was lobster. His friends looked to him in worry. He could do this. It was just one night, right? And who knows? This is Griffin. It only makes sense that he recruited the best chefs to cook this meal.

And Carlos was right. He ate the lobster and had no problems. He didn't feel sick at all that night. And the lobster was definitely cooked. Carlos didn't think twice before thanking the chef for not ruining the dinner.

So if Carlos didn't have a bad reaction to lobster then, why was he having one now?

Carlos shrugged. Maybe he had just gotten lucky at Griffin's dinner. Yeah. That was it.

"Anyway," Rafael said. "Dani said she's really sorry for making you sick. She knew about your distaste for lobster, but a lot of chaos went on last night and she completely forgot. She says she wants to make it up to you."

Carlos nodded in understanding. "It's okay. I understand. Tell her no need to worry. What happened last night wasn't her fault."

Of course, what happened last night was still all a blur to Carlos. The only source of information was Danielle through Rafael. Though Carlos trusted the two of them, he hated the fact that he couldn't remember anything, because really, he felt that something important was being left out of the story.

* * *

**Whoa. If you need me...I'll be upping the rating to this. **

**Awwww Carlos doesn't remember a thing :(**

**Hey TotallyLosingIt, you didn't see that coming, huh?...Well it's okay...cuz I didn't see that coming either. I guess writing this chapter while watching a marathon of Law and Order SVU had something to do with it... :O**

**So what's y'all think?**


	4. What Really Happened?

**Did anyone see that commercial for that Mario Kart game for Nintendo 3DS with Big Time Rush? It was adorable, right? I love that game but I love it even more now!**

**Whatever. I'll stop being random**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"So tell us about the party," Kendall commanded.

"You better not have taken your helmet," Logan said.

"Forget that," James cut in. "Did you make out with any hot girls?"

"Guys!" Carlos yelled, causing his friends to shut up. "Calm down."

Carlos' three best friends looked at each other. Did Carlos, the ball of endless energy, just tell them to calm down?

"He told us to calm down," James pointed a finger at Carlos. "That means he's hiding something!"

"I'm not hiding anything," Carlos defended. It's not considered hiding something if you don't tell your friends that you don't remember anything, right?

"Yeah you are," Logan said.

"C'mon Carlos," Kendall pleaded. "Tell us what happened."

"I-I...nothing, okay?" Carlos finally answered, becoming sick of his friends constant questions.

"He's definitely hiding something," James confirmed. He leaned in closer to Carlos. "Was she hot?"

Carlos didn't have a mirror right now, but he was pretty sure that his face was turning a deep shade of red due to James' guess. "It's nothing like that."

Kendall raised an eyebrow. "Then what happened?"

Carlos rolled his eyes. "I don't remember!" he said, his voice raising a little higher than he had intended.

"What?" Logan asked. The doctor in him said something sounded suspicious. The friend in him made him become extremely concerned with that statement.

Carlos sighed. "I got sick and kinda passed out." Carlos looked down after saying that. It made him feel like a big loser.

"Passed out?" Logan repeated, the worry in his voice increasing.

"But you seem fine now," James said, seeing as how it had only been twenty four hours since the party.

Carlos nodded. "I _feel_ better," he admitted. "But I don't know why I got so sick in the first place. And it happened so quickly too."

"What did you do up to the point you got sick?" Kendall asked.

"I talked to some people, mostly Dani's friends," Carlos began. "Then I danced for a while. I had a few snacks, then I got sick."

"What did you eat?" James asked, his voice soft, as if he was beginning to feel that something wasn't right either.

Carlos shrugged. "I was at the...chips!" he exclaimed. Carlos almost didn't remember that piece of information so he was glad it had struck him instantly. "I had some bean dip...and some dip that Rafael later told me had lobster."

"Maybe it's the lobster," Kendall suggested. "You know what happens when you're around lobster."

Carlos nodded, but the sound of Logan speaking up made him stop.

"No," Logan said with all seriousness. "Carlos grew out of that lobster deal. Remember what we did a few days after that lobster dinner that Griffin had?"

James wanted to face palm. "We took him out...for lobster...to make sure..." he trailed off.

"Exactly," Logan responded. "And Carlos reacted just fine to that." Logan looked straight at his shorter friend. "Carlos. Think. What else did you have?"

Carlos sighed. He completely forgot about the other lobster meal he had. "What's the big deal about me getting sick?" he asked, becoming impatient and annoyed with his friends' sudden worry.

"What else did you have?" Kendall repeated for Logan. Once Kendall realized where Logan was going with this, he needed answers.

Carlos thought back, trying to make his mind try to focus and remember what exactly happened last night. "I had punch."

"Was it punch you found on a table?" Logan asked. "Or did you get it yourself?"

Carlos shook his head. "Dani got it for me. One for me and my brother."

Carlos' three best friends looked at each other, and that's when Carlos began putting two and two together.

"No," Carlos said, offended that his friends would even think something like that. "The punch wasn't spiked. If it was, then everyone at the party would have gotten sick, because everyone was getting their drink from the same bowl. Rafael wasn't sick and neither was Dani."

"Then someone probably spiked your drink after they poured your cup," James suggested.

Carlos shook his head again. "No. Dani served me. Why would she, or anybody for that matter, want to spike my drink, huh?" Carlos asked in defense.

"I don't know," Logan replied. He really _didn't _know why Danielle would spike Carlos' drink...and that's what scared him. "Maybe you're right," Logan said, regretting that action. "M-maybe it really _was _something you ate. The human body has a weird way of reacting to things."

Carlos nodded in agreement. He liked that answer.

Dani had no reason to spike Carlos' punch, right? She wouldn't do something like that. She _couldn't _do something like that. Dani loved Rafael too much and she respected his brothers.

Yeah. Questioning Dani's action wouldn't be right.

So why did the conversation Carlos had with his three best friends suddenly make him question...everything about Dani?

* * *

The Garcia brothers were hanging out in Omar's apartment later that night.

"Aw sorry, Omar," Rafael said as he rejected Omar's invitation. Omar had asked his two brothers to go with him to the theaters to go see Men in Black 3...though Omar had already seen it twice. "Dani and I have dinner plans tomorrow."

"Why do you wanna see it so many times anyway?" Carlos asked his older brother. "Aren't you getting tired of it?"

Omar rolled his eyes. "It's three times the Men in Black. Therefore, it requires three times the fun," Omar answered, as if his logic made sense.

"Hey, I know," Rafael spoke up. "Why don't you guys come to dinner with me and Dani? She loves you guys. She wouldn't mind."

Omar shrugged. "Sure, why not?" He nudged Carlos. "You up for that, Shortie?"

Carlos nodded.

Rafael sighed in relief. "Good," he said. "I was gonna ask you guys to come anyway. Dani said she might bring her friends over and I didn't wanna be the only guy."

"Ooh," Omar said, his interest piqued. "Are they single?"

"Don't even think about it," Carlos and Rafael warned with a mocking tone.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Omar asked.

Rafael rolled his eyes. "In the seventh grade," he began. "I tried asking out Alicia Diaz, but you liked her older sister, Claudia. Do you remember how that incident ended? In the tenth grade, I asked out Michelle Travis, but her cousin, Haley, came into town, and you thought she was extremely hot. Michelle accused me of dating her, just so I can get you a date. She dumped me. Then in my senior year, there was Tanya Chambers, the girl I only dated for two weeks because you decided to flirt with her best friend and smack her butt."

"Hey I remember Tanya!" Carlos chimed in. "It took three weeks for that bruise on your left eye to finally go away."

Omar hissed at that memory. "Sorry about that bro," Omar apologized. "I didn't know that girl's brother _and _boyfriend would come after you."

"It was an honest mistake," Carlos reminded Rafael. "You and Omar look so much alike. They just got a little confused."

Rafael rolled his eyes and looked to Omar. "And you wondered why it took so long for me to introduce you and Dani."

"Okay," Omar said as he raised his hands in surrender. "I promise that tomorrow night, I will not hit on Dani's friends." He held out his pinkie to Rafael. "I promise."

Rafael smiled as he linked his pinkie with Omar's. "We look like third grade girls," Rafael said with a chuckle.  
He turned to Carlos. "You won't hit on anybody tomorrow, right?" Rafael asked his younger brother.

Carlos smiled and nodded. "I...I kinda have someone back in LA...I think."

Omar and Rafael raised their eyebrows. "Do tell," Omar commanded.

Carlos smiled. "Her name is Stephanie..."

* * *

When Carlos woke up the next morning, Carlos heard his two older brothers talking about...milk?_  
_

Carlos' brothers weren't talking that loud, but sound carries very easily in Omar's apartment. Carlos rolled off the couch, and slowly walked toward the kitchen.

This was the second day in a row that he woke up in regular clothes instead of pajamas. The Garcia brothers had fallen asleep after hanging out in the living room.

"I don't wanna get milk," Omar whined. "It's too early to drive to the store."

"It's 9:30!" Rafael pointed out. "You said you've been craving my pancakes, and when I finally come over to make some, you don't have milk? How can I make pancakes without milk?"

Omar sighed. "I don't know. Use water? Hey, why don't _you_ go down to the store?"

"Not my milk, not my problem," Rafael responded.

"Guys?" Carlos finally spoke up, completely confused as to why two grown men were arguing in a kitchen about buying milk. "Is everything...okay?"

"Rafael said he'd make me strawberry pancakes but there's no milk and he won't get it for me and I refuse to go to the store in the mornings," Omar complained.

Carlos chuckled. Omar was always a different person in the mornings. This morning, he was apparently a three year old kid.

"You wanted _strawberry _pancakes?" Rafael asked in disbelief. "You don't have strawberries either!"

Carlos knew that if he didn't intervene anytime soon, his brothers would start bickering again. "Do you want me to go pick the stuff up?" he offered.

His two brothers stayed silent.

"Yes?" Omar finally answered, breaking the silence.

Carlos nodded and held out his hand. When his brothers gave him confused looks, he answered their question before they could ask it. "If I'm gonna run to the store, I need money and a car."

Rafael and Carlos looked at Omar, who instantly got the hint. He rolled his eyes and sighed. "Fine. My keys are on the dining table. My wallet's in my room...take some of the money inside."

Carlos happily complied. "I'll be back in ten," he called out as he was getting ready to leave.

"Any second after ten minutes and we'll come looking for ya," Rafael jokingly replied.

Carlos smiled as he exited the door.

When Carlos was at the store, he was quick in finding the milk and strawberries.

He was waiting in line when he spotted the magazine rack. An issue of Pop Tiger caught Carlos' eye, due to the fact that Big Time Rush had graced the cover of said magazine.

"Carlos?" a familiar female voice from behind asked. "Is that you?"

Carlos turned around. "Hey Dani," he greeted. His shoulders slumped when he remembered something. "Hey, you know, I'm really sorry for getting sick at your party. I...I don't really remember what happened but..."

Dani nodded in understanding. "You don't need to apologize for getting sick." She nudged his arm. "Besides, Rafael said that you're coming again tonight for dinner. We can have more fun then."

Carlos smiled. "So...nothing bad happened at the party, then?" he asked. "Like, I didn't cause a scene or anything?"

Dani smiled. "Let's just say...there wasn't much action after you passed out."

Carlos relaxed after hearing that. He was really afraid that he had caused some sort of unnecessary drama.

"Well that's good," Carlos replied. "But I never did say thanks for inviting me."

"It's no problem," Dani replied. "I'm glad you came, even if you were...conscious for it for only a short time. And I'm glad you're feeling better. You really scared me that night."

Carlos smiled. He loved that Danielle cared so much, but he felt guilty for scaring her so much. "Really? I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Danielle replied. "It's just...you were unresponsive. Rafael almost called 911."

Carlos raised an eyebrow. Rafael _almost _called 911? What stopped him? "But he decided not to after I...kinda woke up?"

Danielle nodded.

Carlos laughed nervously before he noticed that he was next up in line. "I better get going," he held up the milk and strawberries. "The things I do for my brothers."

"I totally understand," Dani replied. "I'll see you tonight. Can't wait."

* * *

**Okay okay you can hate me for making this so boring, okay? But at least Carlos is slowly starting to piece a few things together :)**

**So...remember to review? Please?  
**


	5. Believe Me

**Thought I forgot this story? *hides face in shame* ...yeah... kinda did. Blame my other story, Mute!**

**Anyway, let me apologize in advance for any typos and weird mistakes you might see. XP**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Carlos had some fun at the dinner Danielle had last night. The food was great. His brothers and Danielle's friends were happy.

But something that night just made Carlos' skin crawl. It started out with Carlos offering to get Danielle's photo album, which she later revealed was in her room.

"You know the way," she had simply told him.

Carlos happily rose from the couch, making his way down the familiar hallway, when he suddenly stopped. Something about the hallway just gave him an eerie feeling, like the hallway was haunted. He swallowed the lump in his throat and continued walking.

When he entered her room, he felt the same way, only worse. The room started spinning as he tried to get a hold of himself. _Calm down, Carlos, _he told himself. _There's nothing wrong._ But for some reason, he just couldn't believe that voice in his head.

Carlos quickly grabbed the photo album from off her bed, the bed he went to before he passed out at the party, and ran from the room, hoping the creepy feeling would go away once he left that place.

"Here you go," he said in a shaky voice, which he was glad neither of his brothers noticed, and handed Danielle her photo album.

She thanked him, a huge smile on her face.

At the moment, he and Logan were currently hanging out in the Mitchell's living room. Carlos shuddered when Logan asked about the dinner.

"I-it was okay," Carlos stammered. "Food was great. I met some more of Dani's friends. Oh, and we watched a movie..."

"But?" Logan said, already knowing that Carlos was hiding something. Being Carlos' best friend, he could just always tell.

Carlos sighed, knowing that he had been found out by Logan. "But...something just didn't feel right. I don't know. Just a weird feeling in my gut."

Logan's eyes widened at this statement. "Wh-what do you mean, Carlos?" he asked, not really expecting that quick of a confession from Carlos.

Carlos twiddled with his fingers. "L-last night..."

Logan was freaking out. What did Dani do last night? "What happened?" Logan asked, completely panicked, before Carlos could continue speaking. When Carlos had told his friends about what happened at the party, he couldn't stop thinking about it. Someone did something to Carlos that night and Logan couldn't let that go.

Carlos shrugged. "She had me get something from her room-"

"WHAT?" Logan asked, completely panicked at this point. "She took you to her room? What did she do? Why didn't Rafael stop her? What was going on?"

"Logie!" Carlos called out, preventing his pale friend from giving himself a heart attack. "It wasn't like that. I swear!"

"Oh," Logan muttered, a bit embarrassed about his sudden outburst. "So then, what do you mean?"

Carlos sighed. "Y-you know that feeling you get when...when you know something's not right, but...you just can't tell what it is?"

Logan gave Carlos a look that said, "go on".

"We were all in the living room. Dani was talking about the trip to Europe. She had all the pictures in an album...in her room. I-I offered to get it for her but...as I was getting closer and closer to her room, my stomach just started twisting and my heart started pumping faster. I don't know why. It just did." Carlos gave a pathetic shrug.

"And the only time you've been in her room was during the party?" Logan asked.

Carlos nodded slowly.

Logan balled his fingers into fists. "We needa find out what happened at that party."

* * *

Logan took a deep breath as he stood at Rafael's door. He hadn't knocked yet, he wasn't ready.

Carlos didn't know he was doing this, so Logan couldn't mess up. Carlos begged the smart boy not to get involved, and just let everything go. But no matter how he tried, Logan couldn't let it go. Logan wasn't dumb. He wasn't naive like Carlos. Logan was confident that Carlos had been drugged. It was plain obvious and the fact that Rafael couldn't see anything wrong made Logan really mad.

He sighed as he softly knocked on the door, hoping Rafael _didn't _hear that.

Logan's heart was racing. What was he going to say? Should he just slowly work the conversation into what was worrying his mind? Or should he just come straight out with it?

Sadly, Rafael heard the shy knock. The door opened, revealing a suprised looking Garcia.

"Hey, Logan," Rafael greeted. "Sorry. I wasn't expecting you. Are you meeting Carlos here? He didn't tell me..."

"Um, no," Logan replied, putting his shaking hands in his pocket. "Actually...he doesn't know I'm here. I...I came to talk to you."

A voice from inside the apartment called out. "Rafael? Everything okay?"

Logan gulped. He knew that voice. Dani. Dani was here! Right now!

Rafael turned his head to respond. "Yeah, just a minute!" He turned back to Logan. "Is there something wrong? Why don't you come inside?"

"Uh..." Logan nervously sighed. "I see you're busy. I can come back again."

Logan was about to turn away and leave, but Danielle showed up at the door. "Hey! You're Carlitos' friend, aren't ya? Logan, right?"

Logan almost flinched at the use of Carlos' nickname. Instead, he composed himself and nodded, showing his signature crooked smile.

"You coming inside?" Danielle offered. She grabbed Logan's arm and pulled him inside, not allowing the small boy to refuse. Logan had to admit, Danielle was very hospitable.

"So what's up, Logan?" Rafael asked once they were all sitting on the couch.

Logan unintentionally glanced at Dani, and she automatically got the hint.

"Oh," she said as she stood up from the couch, grabbing her phone from off the table. "I get it. I'll just wait in your bedroom, okay Rafael?"Rafael smiled at her and nodded.

Once Logan was sure she was gone, he opened his mouth, hoping the words would easily spill out. Sadly, they didn't, so he swallowed the lump in his throat. "R-Rafael," he finally began. "This is really hard for me to say...and I know it'll be hard for you to hear."

Rafael wore a look of genuine concern on his face. "Logan. What's wrong? Is it about Carlos?"

Logan slowly nodded. Here it comes...

"Logan, stop beating around the bush," Rafael commanded. "If you know there's something wrong with _my _little brother, you need to let me know."

"Okay," Logan breathed out. "It's...it's also about Dani."

At this point, Rafael was confused. Completely confused. "How...?"

Logan sighed. "Remember Carlos getting sick at the party?"

Rafael nodded, urging Logan to continue.

"I don't...I don't think Carlos getting sick was...coincidence..." Logan trailed off at that.

Rafael raised an eyebrow. "What do you...?" He trailed off as his eyes widened. Rafael was finally getting the point. "You think... he was drugged."

Logan nodded in response. "I know that seems far fetched but when Carlos told us the story about the party-"

Rafael cut him off. "Did he include the lobster dip?"

"Yes!" Logan answered. "But Carlos doesn't react that way with lobster anymore. He eats it in LA. That's why I think he was drugged! There's no way the lobster made him sick."

Rafael looked angry, which was making Logan feel a little scared. Was Rafael made at him, or the fact that Carlos was drugged? "M-maybe if I ask Dani if she saw anything-"

This time it was Logan's turn to interrupt Rafael. "That's the thing," he began. "I think...I think it was Dani..."

This time, Logan was positive that Rafael was mad at him. The look on his face was a dead give away. "Do you realize what you're saying, Logan?" he asked. "You're accusing Dani of drugging my little brother. Think about it. Why would she wanna do something like that?"

"I don't know!" Logan replied, his voice a bit shaky. "But Carlos was drugged and she's the one who handled his drinks and-"

"No," Rafael said in a surprisingly calm voice. "She didn't do that. She _wouldn't _do that." Rafael sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because I'm worried about my best friend!" Logan answered. "He's your brother! You should be worried way more than I am." Logan quickly closed his mouth, wishing he could take that last statement back. "I-I'm sorry."

"I think it's time for you to leave," Rafael replied calmly.

Logan nodded, knowing he shouldn't try to argue anything else further. He rose from the couch and followed Rafael to the door. "I'm really sorry Rafael," he repeated. "But you know I wouldn't lie about this."

Rafael gave a slight nod. "See ya later Logan," he said before closing the door. He headed straight to his bedroom, finding Dani laying on his bed, watching a video on her phone.

She rose when she noticed Rafael had opened the door. "Is everything alright? What was wrong?" She approached him and allowed him to wrap an arm around her waist.

Rafael shook his head. "Nothing, babe," he replied. "Just a little misunderstanding that needed to be fixed." He smiled at her. "Still up for dinner?"

* * *

**Bleh! Okay, so at this point, Rafael knows...kinda. So what happens now? O_o**

**One story update down, two to go before I can update Mute again (Yeah, it's still being held hostage)**

**And darn you, Viacom!**

**Hope you liked this one!**


	6. That's What She Said

**I swear that I'm working on becoming a better updater.  
**

**Hey you people, TotallyLosingIt turned 16 the other day! Just what we need. One more teenager eligible to get her license :P Haha just kidding :D  
**

**Enjoy!  
**

* * *

_Carlos had been missing for almost two hours and Rafael had no idea where his little brother was. He was in the garage, only planning to be there for a few minutes to see some guy's vinyl collection. But small talk turned into friendly conversation, and soon, Rafael and Damien had formed a loose, friendly bond._

_When Dani rushed into the garage, Rafael already knew that something wasn't right. She had panicked features on her face, and that only worried Rafael. For some reason, only one name came into Rafael's mind._

_Carlos._

_Where was he?_

_"Dani," Rafael said as he approached his scared girlfriend. "What's wrong?"_

_"It's Carlos," Dani answered quickly before swallowing the lump in her throat. "He told me he wasn't feeling well and he really looked like he was gonna pass out so I took him to my room so he can lay down, but as soon as he hit the bed his eyes closed and now he's not waking up. I-"_

_"Let's go," Rafael commanded as he left the garage. Damien heard everything, so he understood Rafael's sudden departure._

_Rafael and Dani raced to the girl's room. The first thing Rafael saw was the passed out form of his brother._

_"Carlos," Rafael said as he nudged the said boy's shoulder. "Carlos wake up."_

_"Maybe he's sick?" Dani suggested._

_"We should call 911 if he doesn't wake up," Rafael replied, already assuming that something was very wrong with his brother._

_"Let's wait a bit," Dani said. "Maybe he's just really tired."_

_Rafael nodded before attempting to wake his brother up again. He sighed before he heard a moan. Rafael's eyes widened when he realized that the sound had come from his brother. "Hey, hermanito. You with us?"_

_Carlos moaned again before opening his eyes to tiny slits. His mouth opened to say something, but an incoherent mutter escaped his lips instead. _

_"It's okay, Carlos," Rafael said as he ran his fingers through Carlos' damp hair. "We're gonna get you home. I know you're sick."_

_"No," Carlos croaked. "I don't..."_

_Rafael looked to Dani in worry. He turned back to Carlos. "What's that, baby bro?"_

_"No more," Carlos muttered, almost as if he was trying to beg._

_"No more?" Rafael repeated, totally confused. "Carlitos what does that mean?" he asked before turning to Dani. "Do you happen to know what he was doing before he got sick?"_

_Dani began to think. "I ran into him near the snack table," she answered. "He was eating the chips and dips."_

_Rafael raised an eyebrow. "The dip?" he asked. "Isn't there a guy here that you invited that works at that nasty seafood restaurant a few blocks from here?"_

_Dani's eyes widened. "He brought dip that had lobster," she responded before she gasped as realization hit her. "Oh my gosh. Isn't he allergic?" she asked as she began to panic more._

_Rafael shook his head. "Not exactly," he answered. "He just had a really bad experience with it when we were younger. He gets sick anytime he's even around it. He probably ate a lot of that lobster dip."_

_"Oh no," Dani gasped. "So what do we do?"_

_Rafael sighed. "I'll take him to my place," he answered. "Whenever he got sick like this, Mami would just give him some Pepto Bismol and send him to sleep. So maybe it's a good thing that he's passed out right now."_

_Dani nodded in understanding, feeling the sick boy's forehead.. "I'm so sorry," she said. "I should have told him. Poor guy. He's probably suffering right now."_

_"I don't want you blaming yourself for this," Rafael said. "It's not your fault this happened to him."_

_"I should have remembered," she argued. "He's your little brother and I forgot something as important as this."_

_"Hey," Rafael said as he cupped her cheek in his hand. "It's nothing serious. I'll just take him to my place. All he needs now is sleep."_

_Dani sighed, her shoulders slumping. "You sure he'll by fine by morning?"_

_Rafael nodded and smiled. "Yeah." He turned his attention to Carlos once again. "Carlos," he said. "We're gonna head home, okay?"_

_Carlos stirred in bed as he moaned in discomfort once again._

_Rafael looked to Dani and shrugged. "Looks like I'm carrying him out."_

Two days had passed since the incident between Logan and Rafael. By this time, Rafael had almost disregarded everything Logan had told him.

But even then, the party played in Rafael's head multiple times during the night as he waged war with himself.

_Dani loves you and views Carlos like a little brother!_

_But Logan loves Carlos too and would do anything to protect him._

_Why would Dani want to do something like that?_

_Why would Logan want to lie about something like that?_

Rafael rolled out of bed. He hadn't even talked to Carlos about any of it. Rafael remembered that Logan said Carlos didn't know about the conversation, so he wanted to keep it that way.

At least for now.

All his thoughts were interrupted when his phone began loudly ringing.

* * *

Danielle needed help repainting her house. Rafael cancelled on her. He couldn't take off from work. Of course, when Danielle whined a little bit, Rafael felt guilty, and offered the first solution that came to his mind.

He volunteered his two brothers.

So as of now, Omar and Carlos were stuck doing the work that Rafael _should _be doing.

Carlos, Omar, and Dani had been painting for almost two hours before the three of them reached an agreement.

It was lunch time, and they needed food from Wok Star and fast.

"They don't deliver anymore," Omar said in disappointment. "They decided to stop a few months ago because their delivery men kept getting jumped."

Carlos' shoulders slumped. Has Minnesota really changed _that _much since he was last here?

"But they still do pick up," Dani reminded him. "We can order it and...maybe you can pick it up?"

Omar sighed. "Maybe we should order pizza," he said, not feeling like driving anywhere. Wok Star was a twenty minute drive from Dani's house.

"But I _really _want Chinese," Dani said. "C'mon. I'll even pick up the tab."

Omar looked to Carlos before looking to Dani. He sighed again. "Fine. Make the order and I'll pick it up."

* * *

Omar left five minutes after Dani made the order. Carlos could hear Omar muttering something in annoyance.

Dani plopped on her couch, which was covered by plastic in order to protect the furniture from any paint accidents. "No need doing anymore painting for now," she said. "Carlitos. Why don't you take a seat?" She patted the area next to her, a smile on her face.

Carlos shrugged. "You're right," he replied as he took a seat. "Can we open some more windows in here?" he asked her. "The paint fumes give me a headache."

"Sure thing," she said as she rose from the couch, opening three adjacent windows. "Thanks so much for helping me out," she said when she sat back down. "It would have taken me forever to do this place by myself."

"No problem," Carlos replied with a smile. "I'm sure Rafael is very sorry he couldn't come."

"I know," she replied. "I feel kinda bad for...yelling at him."

Carlos chuckled. "I'm sure he's over that now," he said.

Dani sighed. "So how are your friends doing?"

"They're good," Carlos replied. "Kendall and James are spending some time with their families."

Dani raised an eyebrow. "What about Logan?"

"It's his 'rest day'," Carlos answered using air quotes. "He said he wants to use this day solely for relaxation."

Dani nodded in understanding. "So, when you talked to Logan, did he...tell you anything?"

Carlos looked at Dani with a face full of confusion. "What?" he asked. What would Logan have to say about...something?

Dani shrugged. She looked into Carlos' eyes and sighed. "Poor kid," started to say. "He has a tiny crush on me." What she really wanted to say was, "How did Logan find out about what happened at my party?" but she knew she couldn't bring up something that Carlos wasn't supposed to remember.

Carlos scoffed. "No he doesn't," he argued. "Logan has a girlfriend in LA. Her name's Camille. She would _kill _him if she thought that he had feelings for another girl."

"He and Rafael had a little argument over me," she said to him. "He came over a few nights ago and...he confessed this to Rafael." Where these lies were coming from, even she didn't know. But if it meant turning the boys against each other to keep her secret, the so be it.

Carlos shook his head. "No," he said, still in disbelief. "Logan's not like that. He loves Camille and Camille loves him. He wouldn't...no. It's impossible."

"You think that I would lie to you?" she asked, a hurt expression on her face.

Carlos shook his head. "No. No I don't," he answered. "But I also know Logie. He's not like that and he would never do anything like that. I've known him for almost ten years now. I can trust him with anything."

"I know you do," Dani responded. "But you also have to trust me. Rafael and I have gotten pretty serious now. Your parents and Omar have already accepted me in their lives and you should too."

There went that face again. Dani's hurt expression that she wore so well.

Carlos felt so guilty. As he looked into her sad, hazel eyes, he only thought of James. He thought of how James' hazel eyes would get when the brunette felt sad or disappointed at something.

"I _have _accepted you, Dani," Carlos argued. "You're like the sister I never had." He paused. "But I view Logan as my brother too. And he needs to have his honor defended also."

Dani looked at him, her sad eyes turning angry. Once again, Carlos thought of James. How James would have some type of fire coming from his eyes every time he got extremely mad at someone.

Carlos was always happy that he was never on the receiving side of James' anger. That usually, when James' got angry, it was usually at someone who threatened or hurt his best friends.

"Hey," Dani said as she cupped Carlos' face in her hand. "Don't feel bad, okay? I know we all have a tendency to defend our best friends to the death. I'm not mad at you for not believing me. Okay?"

Carlos nodded, a chill going down his spine. He stood up from the couch, walking close to a window. "Maybe I should talk to him," he suggested.

Dani walked up behind him, placing her hand on his back. "Leave it alone, Carlitos," she said. "He'll probably be really embarrassed about and Rafael is just too angry to talk about it, okay? Let's just never bring this up again, okay?"

Carlos looked into her eyes again. "Okay," he croaked out, still trying to process the whole thing.

Carlos had never been one to deliberately disobey people. It just wasn't in his nature. But after today, he had a feeling that he would go against his principle. Just this once.

* * *

**I'm giving you guys permission to tell me how much I suck for writing up a character like Dani... O_O**


	7. Caught

**Shut up Kidz Bop! No one likes you!**

**Anyway...**

**Warning: Creepy Dani, some tears, Rafael and Carlos being a little OOC, and just a messed up chapter in general :P**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Dani couldn't help but think that her charade would one day backfire. But she just couldn't help herself.

It was no lie. When she first met Rafael, it was real. She truly loved him and thought he was absolutely perfect. Rafael was one of the nicest guys that she ever met and for that she was truly grateful. He was everything Dani wanted in a man.

He was "the one".

But then Rafael would talk about how great his little brother, and his band, was. So she checked them out. And once she did, she felt something inside of her. She watched their performances, their interviews, and paparazzi shots and she noticed a theme.

Carlos' innocence.

Rafael didn't have that. He was nice, sweet, honest, and very mature. But he wasn't the most innocent.

Dani had to admit, neither was she, especially after what she tried to do to Carlos at the party, but she just couldn't break away from the younger Garcia.

Carlos was everything she wasn't.

And the more Dani was around him, the more frustrated she would get. Dani got everything she wanted. When she was younger, anything she would ask from her parents, she got. Anything she wanted from friends, she got. Any man, any job, any car, she got. She wanted Rafael, and she got him too.

But she also wanted Carlos, and she couldn't have him.

Dani gasped as her thoughts were interrupted by an angry knock on her door. She expected Rafael to be coming by, so she was a bit shocked at the aggressiveness from the knock. As she rose from her couch and turned off the TV that she wasn't really watching, she couldn't help but wonder if Rafael was mad at her for...

Dani looked through the peephole, and smiled.

She opened the door. "Hey, Carlitos," she said with a smile as she twirled her shiny red hair with her fingers. Carlos was seething, she could see that.

"Don't call me that," he commanded.

"What's wrong?" she asked. For once she wasn't faking anything. She was genuinely confused.

"You lied," Carlos answered, still angry. "You lied about Logan having a crush on you. You think you can tell me all that crap without me getting suspicious and wanting to talk to my best friend about it?"

Dani just looked at him. "Why don't you come inside?" she finally offered. "Let's talk about this."

Carlos just stood there, rocking on his feet, debating whether he should obey her or not. "No," he finally said, remembering Logan's words of caution.

Dani nodded when she realized that she wouldn't get through to him. "What's wrong, Carlos?" she asked again. "What did Logan tell you?"

"That you're a liar," Carlos simply replied. "And you, when we were painting your house yesterday there was something telling me that everything you were saying just wasn't adding up and I was right. Nothing _did _add up."

"What are you talking about, Carlos?" Dani asked, irritated.

Carlos felt his eyes watering up but he refused to let tears fall. "It's convenient that you happened to have lobster dip just waiting for me at the party," he began. "But here's a newsflash. I eat lobster in LA, and you know what else? I know that it's not a huge coincidence that I got sick after eating the dip _and_ drinking your punch."

"Well, here's a newsflash for you," Dani retorted. "How about you accept the fact that it _is _one huge coincidence that you got sick at my party?"

Carlos scoffed. "I'll admit," he said. "Lobster would always make me _very _sick. I'd have an upset stomach, I'd get dizzy, I'll vomit a lot-"

Dani raised up a hand. "Is there a point to this?" she asked impatiently.

"I've had a lot of crazy symptoms," Carlos admitted. "But _never _have I ever lost my memory." He inched closer to Dani, trying to out on an intimidating demeanor. "The least you can do for me now is tell me the truth. You were the one that handled my drink. What did you do?"

Dani smiled. "Okay, Carlos. I'll tell you, but only because I like you so much," she said before Carlos twitched at her statement. "You passed out so quickly. I didn't do anything to you."

"You're lying," Carlos accused. "You spiked my drink and you know it! What other reason would a person have to drug somebody other than wanting to-" Carlos stopped himself. He couldn't handle saying that he could be a victim of rape.

"There's a difference between almost, and didn't," Dani said.

Carlos gave her a confused look. "What?" he breathed out, thinking he didn't hear correctly.

"You heard me," Dani said with a smile. "Like I said, you passed out. You were just supposed to be completely out of it, not unconscious."

Carlos wanted to feel relieved at her statement. He really did. And for a brief second, he almost was.

But this was Dani. How could he even trust what she says after all of this?

Carlos clenched his fists together. He took several deep breaths before he started to speak again. "You know what my friends and brothers tell me?" he asked. When Dani didn't answer, he continued. "They say that I'm too forgiving. And I'm gonna give you something that I think everyone around me deserves. I'm giving you a chance to redeem yourself."

Dani raised an eyebrow. "Meaning?" she asked.

"Meaning you come clean to Rafael about this," Carlos began. "You tell him about all this and just disappear from our lives."

"Or?" Dani challenged.

"Or I'll tell him," Carlos threatened. "And he'll be hurt way more if he hears it from me. I know that for a fact. It's time you start being honest with him. He at least deserves that."

Dani smirked. "Now let me get this straight," she said. "You think Rafael would believe that his girlfriend, the smart, beautiful, and sweet Danielle, would cheat on him with his ugly, immature little brother? I think you'd have a better chance in making him believe that I was cheating on him with Omar," she said with a scoff.

Carlos softly gasped. "Just tell me," he pleaded. "Why? Why would you do something like this to a guy like Rafael? You mean everything to him. He'd take a bullet for you!" Carlos felt his eyes water at the mention of the word 'bullet'.

Dani shrugged. "I want the both of you," she confessed. "Besides, you going back to Cali in a couple of days." She crawled her fingers up Carlos' chest. "That means I only have those days to be with you."

Carlos swatted her hand away. "Back off," he commanded. "As far as I'm concerned, you'll never see Rafael again. And me? The only time you'll see me is on TV, where I'll be several miles away from you."

"You can't be so sure of that," Dani replied. How she was able to keep up her smug attitude was beyond Carlos.

"Yes I can," Carlos responded. "I know Rafael is gonna be very hurt after this, but since it looks like you're not gonna step up, I will. I'm telling Rafael everything. He'll _definitely _believe me."

That's all Dani needed to hear. "Then let's test that, shall we?" she asked before grabbing a confused Carlos by the wrist and pulling him inside. She shut the door and held him by the collar of his shirt, pinning him to the wall.

"You should have kept your mouth shut," she whispered to him before pressing her lips up against his. She felt Carlos struggling to break away.

Carlos had to admit, she was stronger than she looked.

Carlos sighed in relief when their lips finally separated. He saw Dani's evil smile on her face and felt shivers go down his spine.

Things started moving fast. Dani began pulling Carlos away from the wall, leading him to the couch instead. She fell backward onto the couch, forcing Carlos to land on top of her.

"Dani!" Carlos yelled as he started struggling out of her death grip. "This isn't right! Let go!" he begged.  
He could feel his hormones were going all over the place, and he was scared. Very scared.

"Shh," Dani said as she placed a finger to his lips. "You're only in Minnesota for a few more days." She smiled. "Let's give you something to remember." She brought her lips to his once again, forcing the boy into her devilish kiss.

Carlos felt her hands grabbing onto the collar of his shirt.

Just as quickly as it started, it ended.

The door to Dani's house opened, followed by a loud gasp.

Rafael's mouth hung open. His hands were shaking at the site he had just seen. And suddenly, he felt sick.

Dani shoved Carlos away from her. "Rafael!" she said as she rose from the couch and ran into Rafael's arms. Tears flowed down her face. "C-Carlos he..." She sobbed. "He said that he forgot something here so I let him come over. He...he walked in and pushed me on the couch and just started kissing me!" She held him tighter. "I'm so glad you came when you did..."

Rafael looked up from his girlfriend's trembling form to Carlos' wide eyed face.

Carlos furiously shook his head. "No no no no no," he chanted. "It's not like that, Rafael," he said, hoping his brother would believe him. "She...she kissed _me!_ I wouldn't do that to you, bro," Carlos said, his sad eyes watering up at this point.

Rafael looked to Dani before looking to Carlos. The young boy could see that Rafael and Dani hadn't loosened their grip on each other at all.

"Carlitos," Rafael said in a disappointed voice. "You were _on top _of her. Do you know how that looks?"

Carlos nodded in shame before looking to the floor.

"Don't be too hard on him," Dani told Rafael. "Like I said, nothing happened past that."

Rafael gave Carlos a look. Not an angry look. Not a hurt look. But a disappointed one, and that hurt Carlos more than anything.

"R-Rafael?" Carlos breathed out. He didn't want to stay and face Rafael's wrath. Before anyone could do anything, Carlos ran past Rafael and Dani, and ran out the door.

* * *

"I'm telling you, Kendall," James argued. "Christian Bale has got to be _the best _Batman. It's no question." He took a bite out of his pie.

Kendall shook his head. He turned to Logan. "Help me out here, buddy," Kendall said to the genius. "Tell him who the better Batman was."

"Keaton," Logan said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Kendall smiled in approval.

James crossed his arms over his chest and huffed. "If Carlos were here, he'd agree on Bale."

"But he's not," Kendall replied with a victory smile. "We win," he said, indicating himself and Logan.

"_Worst_ Batman?" James asked.

The three boys looked at each other. "Kilmer," they all said at the same time.

"Speaking of which," James spoke up. "Where _is _Carlos?"

Logan shrugged. "He said he had something to take care of before meeting us here." Logan couldn't help but worry and wonder about what that "something" was. When Logan was told of the horrible lie Dani had said about him, he felt disgusted.

As of yet, Logan and Carlos hadn't told their two taller friends of what went on. They didn't think it was anything to worry about.

Until they heard panicked knocking coming from the front door.

The three boys jumped at the offending sound, and James slowly rose from the couch to open his front door, ready to pounce just in case their was a crazy person on the other side.

James gasped when he finally opened the door. The person on the other side of the door _was _a crazy person.

His crazy, hyper, happy, adorable, little Latino friend.

But this time, his crazy friend wasn't his usually happy self.

When James opened the door, Carlos, who was crying so hard that his eyes were swollen and his face was red, practically collapsed into James' arms.

"Carlos!" James yelled in surprise when he caught his crying friend.

Kendall and Carlos ran to the door, also shocked to see how much of a mess Carlos was.

"Carlos!" Logan called out. "What's wrong, buddy?"

Kendall and James helped Carlos off the ground and led him on the couch.

"Carlos," Kendall pleaded. "Please tell us what's wrong."

Carlos whimpered before wiping the fallen tears from his face. "D-Dani," he choked out before leaning onto James chest.

Logan gasped.

"You mean Rafael's girlfriend?" James asked. Carlos nodded as he continued sobbing. "What did she do, Carlitos?"

"Sh-she's a liar!" Carlos shouted through his tears. "And now Rafael hates me."

Carlos' three best friends looked at each other with wide eyes. That's when they figured it out.

Carlos wouldn't cry over something Dani said or did. Carlos wasn't like that. But Rafael and Carlos meant everything to each other. If it was true that Rafael is mad at Carlos, then they could all understand why the little guys was so broken up.

"So tell us what happened," Logan begged Carlos. "Maybe we can help."

James could feel Carlos shaking his head.

"You can't help," Carlos muttered pathetically.

"Yes we can!" Kendall argued. "But you gotta tell us what happened, first."

Carlos pulled himself away from James' chest to look Kendall in the eyes. "Promise you'll believe me?"

Kendall, along with James and Logan, nodded.

"Remember when we were together, talking about the party?" Carlos began. He continued when his friends nodded once again. "Well it's true. It _wasn't _a big coincidence that I got sick at the party. Dani admitted to everything. She drugged me and tried to-" Carlos gave a shuddering gasp.

"Carlos," James breathed out. "Did she-"

"No," Carlos quickly answered, already knowing what James was going to ask. He didn't want to hear it. He didn't want to be labeled as a victim. "At least, that's what she said. She said that after I passed out, she didn't do anything. I wasn't supposed to pass out. I was just supposed to be...I don't know. But you get the idea."

After a long moment of silence, Kendall was the first to speak. "Rafael shouldn't hate you because of that, Carlos," he reasoned.

"I know," Carlos replied. "As far as I know, he doesn't know that I was drugged."

Logan swallowed the lump that formed in his throat and allowed Carlos to continue.

"I went to go see her today to confront her about it," Carlos continued. "It was stupid, I know, but I had to. When I went over there she...grabbed me and threw the both of us on the couch and started kissing me." Carlos wiped a fallen tear from his face. "I was on top of her and...and Rafael walked in."

"I can't believe that Rafael would believe you would do something like that," James said in shock. "But here's something more important. Carlos. Are _you _okay?"

Carlos nodded. "Nothing bad happened I'm just really...broken up right now I guess."

James started rubbing Carlos' back as he looked to Kendall and Logan. "Don't worry, buddy," James reassured. "We're gonna make this right."

* * *

**You like?**

**Yeah. Logan hasn't completely spoken up.**

**I'm sad because I want a good picture for this story and can't find one :'(**

**For you Omar lovers, he'll play a huge role in the next chapter!**

**So review? Please?**

**Deuces!  
**


	8. Love and Hurt

**Hey, look. An update to that one story some girl is writing.**

**I finally found a picture for this! What do ya think?  
**

**Enjoy! (I apologize in advance in case you don't like the way I ended this chapter)  
**

* * *

"Hey, Rafael," Omar greeted his younger brother with a smile.

"Sup, Omar?" Rafael replied. He released a heavy sigh as he took a sip of the beer in his hand and made himself comfortable on Omar's couch.

Omar instantly knew that something was wrong with Rafael. "Alright, little bro," he said. "Tell me what's up."

Rafael's eyebrows perked up. "Why do you always assume something's up?" he replied, becoming defensive. "I'm just fine, thank you very much."

Omar nodded. "Right," he replied sarcastically. "So you always make it a point to head straight to people's fridges just so you can help yourself to a bottle beer...while looking completely disheveled, might I add," Omar said in concern as he took in his brother's appearance. Rafael looked beyond tired. His hair was a mess, and his shirt looked a bit wrinkled, which was very out of character for him.

"I didn't think you knew what 'disheveled' meant," Rafael retorted before he sighed once again. "I'm so confused right now."

Omar looked at his brother, almost like he was studying him. Finally, Omar came to a conclusion. "Girl troubles?" he asked confidently.

Rafael scoffed. "What are you, some kind of expert?" he asked before taking a sip of his beer.

Omar shook his head. "Far from it," he replied. "Buuuut, I just know you. Ever since you were eighteen, anytime you had a fight with any of your girlfriends, you'd come over here." Omar chuckled. "You spent the night here when you and Esmeralda got into that major fight. I coulda sworn that I heard you cry yourself to sleep."

Rafael didn't deny that. "It wasn't just any small fight," he said. "And I really loved her."

Omar nodded, giving his brother a sympathetic look. "I know, buddy," he said as he placed his hand on Rafael's shoulder. "I think the two of you woulda been married if...you know..."

Rafael scoffed. "You can say it," he said. "She died...She died in that stupid car accident..."

Omar deeply inhaled. He was ready to change the subject, seeing as how talking about Esmeralda did more harm than good.

"You know how else I know you're having girl troubles?" Omar asked with a smirk. When Rafael looked at him with a bored expression, Omar continued. He reached for Rafael's neck, where a chain hung, most of it being hidden by his shirt. Omar pulled on the necklace, revealing what Rafael had been hiding. "Abuelo gave this to you after Abuelita died," he said, playing with the ring that hung on the chain. "Abuelo said this was the ring he was wearing when he met her."

Rafael smiled at Omar's reminder. "Yeah...yeah I remember."

"Good," Omar replied. "Because every time you wear this, you always do it with a hope of making things right with somebody, or finding that special someone...And since you've already done one of those..."

Rafael sighed and rolled his eyes. "Okay, cut it out!"

Omar's shoulders slumped. "But I'm not done..." he cleared his throat. "Four years ago you and Carlos went to Puerto Rico. At the airport Carlos picked out a bracelet for you. You're wearing it right now. The last time you wore it...Carlos was in LA. You and I talked on the phone with him, and he was upset because his friends weren't speaking to him..."

"I'm serious!" Rafael snapped. "Just...stop, okay?"

Omar crossed his arms over his chest. "You need to tell me what's going on, bro."

Rafael sighed, taking a long sip of his beer. "When you helped Dani paint her house...did you...did you get a vibe?"

"Vibe?" Omar asked as he raised an eyebrow.

Rafael nodded. "Yeah. Did she seem...weird in anyway...especially around Carlos?"

At this point, Omar was confused. "Okay, man. Whatever you're trying to say, just say because I've totally lost you."

Rafael sighed in annoyance. "Two days ago I...I walked in on Dani and Carlos..."

Omar, being a bit twisted when it came to his thinking, thought the worst. "Ah man! They were d-"

"No!" Rafael said, cutting Omar off. "Well not completely, anyway. They were kissing on her couch. Carlos...was on top of her and..." Rafael just sighed. Omar could fill in the blanks himself.

"What?" Omar breathed out in shock. "Carlos on...really?"

Rafael nodded. "I haven't heard from him since. I've tried calling him, visiting him, I've left him messages. But nothing. I even called Kendall and _he _won't pick up either."

"Huh," Omar said in bewilderment.

"What?" Rafael asked.

"The shortie going for your girl behind your back," Omar began. "That doesn't sound like him. He's just too..."

"Now you see why I'm so confused," Rafael said. "I love Carlos. He's my brother. But Dani...she wouldn't...would she?" he asked before taking a sip of his beer.

"I'll say this from my perspective," Omar said, taking the beer bottle from Rafael's hands and placing it on a table. "The night you and the shortie hung out over here, he talked about some girl at the Palm Woods that he liked. The way he talked about her, he made her sound like she was the greatest thing in the world. Like he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her and he didn't want anything getting in the way of that. He wouldn't betray her by trying to get some with Dani. There has to be another explanation."

"What are you doing?" Rafael asked when he saw Omar stand up.

"_We _are gonna talk to Carlos," Omar answered. "Now get up. "

* * *

Carlos wasn't feeling well. His head hurt. He was dizzy, and his body ached.

A normal person would lay in bed and sleep it off.

But Carlos wasn't a normal person, and he knew exactly why he was feeling so yucky.

Rafael and Dani had been on his mind for the past two days. Though Rafael had been trying to reach him, Carlos couldn't get himself to talk to his older brother. He didn't know if it was because of shame or fright, but Carlos just couldn't do it.

Carlos' phone began ringing. The sound of "Superstar" filled the room, and Carlos knew exactly who was calling.

Kendall.

Carlos sighed before picking it up. "Hello?" he muttered into the phone.

_"Hey, Carlos!"_ Kendall said excitedly as possible. He knew Carlos hadn't been feeling a hundred percent, and he was hoping that even the smallest bit of optimism would help cheer up the sad boy. Kendall continued speaking. _"Well me and the guys are gonna head to the arcade. Since we pass your house to get there, you're gonna get yourself ready, and we're gonna pick you up, okay?"_

Carlos groaned. He was glad that his friends cared about him so much. But he just really wasn't in the mood to do much of anything. "I don't know, Kendall. I-"

But Kendall stopped him. _"I...didn't really give you much of a choice,"_ he replied in a joking tone. _"We'll be there in fifteen. You're going even if we have to tie you up and drag you out."_

Carlos sighed when Kendall hung up.

Kendall was serious when he said he wasn't giving Carlos a choice.

So Carlos started getting ready, putting on a decent T-shirt instead of the old, stained one he had on.

Exactly twelve minutes later, Carlos heard a knock at the door. He didn't bother checking who it was, seeing as how he automatically assumed that it would be one of his friends eagerly waiting for him.

But Carlos froze when he saw two familiar figures at the door.

"Hey, Carlitos."

His eyes widened. Once his came out of his stupor, he attempted to slam the door in their faces and lock it. But the other person was fast in using his hand to keep the door opened.

"How long did you really think you could avoid me?" Dani asked as her and her friend walked in, shutting the door behind them.

Carlos didn't know what these two were planning to do, and he really didn't want to find out.

"I assume you remember Damien, from the party," she said, pointing to the guy behind her.

A devilish smile appeared on Damien's face.

Carlos looked to the door, hoping that any minute, his best friends would walk in and stop all of this from happening.

* * *

James, Logan, and Kendall all tensed up when they heard a scream coming from inside the Garcia house. They were standing at the door. James was about to knock when the horrid sound reached their ears.

At that point, James went onto auto-pilot. He let himself in, thankful that the door had been unlocked.

Wait? Why would Carlos leave the door unlocked?

"Stop! Please!" they all heard Carlos yell.

"That's from upstairs," Logan said before breaking into a run. "Let's go!"

The three boys ran upstairs. Due to a force of habit, they ran straight to Carlos' room.

"If you want this to stop," a voice said. "Then you know what to do!" That wasn't Carlos this time. This voice sounded angry, not to mention feminine.

They finally reached Carlos' room, and Logan barged in. "Oh my gosh," he breathed out.

James and Kendall saw the reason why Logan froze, and at that point, everything became a stand still.

A large man was on top of Carlos, beating the poor boy senseless while a familiar redhead stood and watched, an evil smile etched on her face.

James got angry at seeing this. His eyes were fixed on the man beating up his best friend. He heard Kendall yelling at Dani, asking what she was doing and why she was doing it. But James didn't care why. The point was, Carlos was getting hurt by someone, and James saw nothing but red as lunged for Carlos' attacker.

James tackled the man, straddling on top of him and laying punch after punch on the man's face.

Logan made his way to Carlos, whose eyes were half lidded. Logan gently held him in his arms. "It's okay," Logan whispered to Carlos, who was shaking violently in Logan's arms. "You're safe now. It's okay. We're here for ya."

Kendall, on the other hand, full of rage, slowly approached Dani with a menacing demeanor. He wanted to hit her. He wanted to hit her so bad. But he couldn't. Kendall could never hit a girl. The two most important people in his life were women.

He really wished Camille were here. That way, Camille could not only fight with Dani, but win.

Kendall glanced at James, who had risen off the floor, hovering over a now unconscious person.

"They...hurt me," Carlos muttered weakly.

Logan tightened his hold on his hurt friend. "I know buddy," he said. "I know. But they won't hurt you again."

Kendall only grew more angry at this. Seeing Carlos so vulnerable shouldn't happen. Kendall pulled out his phone. "I'm calling the police."

He could only dial 9-1 before he felt a picture frame connect with his head. Kendall fell pathetically to the ground. As the frame dropped beside him, he recognized the picture instantly.

It was Kendall's first hockey game as captain of the hockey team. Mama Knight had taken the picture, and three copies of it were made. Logan, Carlos, and James each got a copy.

Kendall groaned as James knelt beside him.

"Kendall," James said in an alarmed voice. "Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah," he answered. "Danielle! Go get Dani."

James reluctantly obeyed, and left his friends to find the red-head.

Kendall slowly got up, met with the worried eyes of Logan, who was still cradling a frightened Carlos. Kendall slowly crawled over.

"I just got off the phone," Logan announced. "I called 911."

Kendall was surprised to hear that. Had he been so busy with Dani that he didn't notice anything else around him?

Carlos groaned. "K-Kendall?" he weakly called out. "Your forehead...bleeding."

Kendall brought his fingers to his head. The area where Dani smashed the frame into. Sure enough, his finger tips were stained with a warm red liquid. "I'll be fine," he finally said. "It's you we're worried about."

Suddenly, James burst into the room, but not with Dani.

* * *

**I added whump :D  
**

**This story's almost done! Just a few more chapters to go. **

**So people, I have a dilemma. Because my crazy brain NEVER stops acting up, I've already come up with two new story ideas :P but then I was like, "But I really like Rafael and Omar and I wanna make another story with them in it!" OMG I'm so confused. I wish this thing called a brain would just slow down for once :P But I refuse to start a new story until I've finished at least 2 of mine and nothing on earth will change my mind! ...I'm such a lair XP  
**

**Can you guys review, please? I would love to know what you thought of this chapter!  
**


	9. Finally See

**Yay! Update! **

**Enjoy!  
**

* * *

"C-Carlos?" Rafael stammered as he saw his little brother clinging to Logan. Rafael and Omar approached them and knelt down.

What happened next almost brought tears to Rafael's eyes.

Rafael reached out to touch his little brother's shoulder. Instead of Carlos accepting the friendly gesture, he flinched, shrinking further and further into Logan's arms.

"What happened?" Omar finally asked, very much in shock.

Carlos whimpered before telling his story. "Dani and Damien," he began. "Brought me up here...she was mad at me. She said her relationship with Rafael was ruined because of me..." he stopped, feeling his eyes watering up.

"C-Carlos?" Logan said softly, almost afraid of the answer Carlos might give him. "Why did they bring you up here...of all places?"

"She s-said that there was only one way to make it up," Carlos answered. "Dani said that she needed to forget Rafael and that the only way she could do that was by getting with me." He gasped when a wave of pain struck his midsection. "Wh-when I said no, she got mad and said that there was a reason she brought Damien over. S-s-so he knocked me to the ground and started kicking me. Dani gave me a second ch-chance, but when I begged them to leave, Damien got on top of me and started hitting me. That's when you guys came in...I was really scared. I thought he was gonna do much worse."

Logan ran his shaky fingers through Carlos' hair.

"I think Dani went out through the back door," James announced. "They didn't see her leave."

Kendall cursed under his breath. Dani got away. He let Dani get away

Rafael's mouth hung open. Every time he tried to speak, gasps of shock came out instead. He couldn't believe that Dani, a girl he had loved so much, could do this.

And what was worse was the fact that he was blind the whole time. Rafael could have protected Carlos from this. Logan even warned him about her. But even without Logan's warning, Rafael should have known better.

The party. That's where it started. Carlos passing out at the party. How even in his sleep, Carlos was fighting someone, begging whoever it was to just leave him alone.

Omar's voice cut off Rafael's thoughts.

"What about that guy?" he asked, pointing over to Damien, who looked like he was starting to wake up. James walked up to Damien, kicking him in ribs as he tried to get up. Damien was out cold once again.

Rafael sighed, and finally, he found his voice. "He was at the party."

Everyone looked at Rafael with a confused look.

"You know him?" James asked.

Rafael nodded. "I-I met him at the party when-" he stopped when he felt his eyes water. "Oh my gosh. I was in the garage with him at the party while Carlos was...Oh no. Carlitos. I'm so sorry. I'm so so sorry."

Carlos didn't respond. He just closed his eyes, letting the soft thumping of Logan's heartbeat soothe him. As Rafael's words repeated in his head, Carlos couldn't stop the tears from falling from his eyes.

"I-I know you're probably mad at me," Rafael said to his little brother.

Kendall didn't know where the anger came from, but once he felt it, he couldn't ignore it. "Why wouldn't he be mad at you?" he snapped. "You chose to be loyal to a girl you only knew for a year, maybe? Over your own brother, who idolized you, I might add."

"Hey," Omar spoke up. "We don't need this right now. Let's just all calm down, okay?" he said, shocking everyone. Omar was never known to be the level headed one during a confrontation.

Kendall was about to argue some more, but when cops had barged into the house, he stayed quiet. He looked to Omar with a message that clearly said "this isn't over."

* * *

Kendall walked up to the group, a butterfly bandage on his forehead. The doctor had cleared him to leave and go home. But he wasn't planning on going home while Carlos was still at the hospital as well.

Logan quickly stood up. "Kendall," he breathed out. "Are you okay, buddy?"

Kendall nodded. "I don't have a concussion," he said, answering a question that had been floating through Logan's mind for the past half hour. "Dani got me good, but the doctor said there's nothing to worry about. Though he also said that I'd have a killer headache for a few days."

Logan and James sighed in relief. Logan slowly sat back down, followed by Kendall.

Next to the boys sat Omar and Rafael.

"He asked me to go with you guys," Omar suddenly spoke up.

"What?" Rafael asked.

Omar sighed. "Carlos," he answered. "Carlos asked me to go to that party with you guys. I said no because I thought I'd get bored." Omar scoffed. "I could have protected him but I didn't because I was afraid of getting bored. You believe that?"

Rafael started rubbing circles into Omar's back. "So what's my excuse, then?" Rafael muttered. "I was at the party." He turned his body slightly to face Omar. "You think he'll forgive me?"

"He forgave me," Omar replied, not having a sure answer to his little brother's question.

Rafael was very aware of the fact that Omar was avoiding having to answer. But he wasn't going to hold it against Omar because it was true. Carlos endured years of abuse from Omar, yet the youngest Garcia never hated Omar for it. Carlos even begged Omar to forgive, because that's who Carlos was. He was forgiving. He had an excuse for everybody; a reason why someone did whatever bad thing they did.

So Rafael couldn't help but wonder: What excuse did Carlos make up for him? Did Carlos even make up an excuse this time? Did Rafael even deserve an excuse?

No, he didn't. Rafael couldn't stop asking himself how he could put Dani over his little brother. The same little brother that he made a promise to. A promise that he'd never let anyone hurt him. That he'd protect Carlos from any bad thing.

So what happened?

Rafael buried his face in his hands, feeling nothing but shame. He noticed that Kendall, along with Logan and James, hadn't said a word to him, not even a glance, since they'd all arrived at the hospital.

And they sat like that for another hour before a man wearing a white lab coat approached them. They all rose, anxious to hear if Carlos was okay.

"How's Carlos?" Omar asked, being the first to speak up.

The doctor had a positive look on his face, so they could all only take it as a good thing. "I'm Doctor Jacobs," he introduced himself.

Omar wanted to roll his eyes and tell the old man that he didn't care about the doctor's name, but decided against it. Being temperamental with the doctor wouldn't help anything.

"Carlos was brought it with several bruises on his torso," Doctor Jacobs began. "Unfortunately, he also came in with three broken ribs, but none of them pierced a lung. He also came in with some bruising on his thighs and arms, but other than that, Carlos will be fine. When he was brought in, we were afraid that he was suffering from internal bleeding because of his bruises. But he's been cleared of that. He _will_ have to stay a couple of days here so that we can watch him."

"So...we can see him now?" Rafael asked.

Doctor Jacobs nodded before leading the five of them to Carlos' room.

"Make sure he doesn't get excited," Doctor Jacobs warned. "If his heart rate increases or if he seems in discomfort, call for hospital staff. He needs to take it easy."

The five of them nodded before letting themselves into Carlos' room. Once their gaze was fixed on Carlos, they couldn't break away from the hurt sight of their friend.

Carlos was asleep, which they were all relieved to see. It meant that he was okay. That nothing was bothering for him for now.

Each of them took a seat surrounding Carlos' bed. That way when he woke up, he wouldn't be afraid, because he was surrounded by people who love him.

* * *

Rafael didn't remember falling asleep, but he woke up to the sound of Omar's voice.

"Hey, little bro," Omar said. At first, Rafael thought Omar was talking to him. But once his foggy mind cleared up, he realized that wasn't the case.

"O-Omar?" Carlos said weakly.

"Oh my gosh. Carlitos," Rafael said. "When'd you wake up?"

"Just now," James quickly answered before turning his full attention back to Carlos. "How are you, buddy?"

"My chest hurts," Carlos simply answered.

"I know, Carlos," Kendall said sympathetically. "You have some broken ribs."

"I don't get why they would do this to you," Logan said with a sigh. "We're so sorry it happened to you."

"I made her mad," Carlos responded with sorrow in his voice.

"No you didn't!" Rafael argued, causing his younger brother to jump a little. "I'm sorry...but you didn't mess up. It was me. Carlitos I'm so sorry she put you through that. I can't believe I was blind the whole time."

"I'm sorry I ruined your relationship with her," Carlos apologized.

Rafael shook his head. "The only one that ruined my relationship with Dani was her. You didn't do anything bad. And hermanito..." Rafael paused, realizing that he hadn't called Carlos his "hermanito" in a while. "I'm sorry for everything," he said with a sigh. "I'm so sorry."

Carlos remained silent, letting a tear fall from his eye. He swallowed the lump in his throat. "D-Dani-"

"Will never see you again," Omar spoke up. "And that's something we'll make sure of, okay?"

Carlos faced Omar, a bit of hope present in his eyes, before nodding. "Okay," he breathed out, knowing that he should trust Omar's word. He felt himself relax as someone grabbed his hand, giving it a friendly squeeze, before Carlos' eyes slipped shut.

* * *

**I hope that you liked this. My brain has been mush for the past week or so _ anyway, this story is almost done, sad to say. I know you'll miss Dani...er uh, the Garcia brothers, I mean. Review?**


	10. At the End of It All

**Okay here's the last chapter :D **

**Also, since this shout out is WAY over due, I'll shall give it now. Winterschild11 has an awesome story being written right now called "Those You Trust". Seriously, read it. You won't regret it. I love that story so much :D  
**

**Enjoy!  
**

* * *

Rafael let out a huge sigh. "Hermanito," he said, turning to his brother in the passenger seat. "Are you sure you wanna do this?"

Carlos could only nod. He needed to this. He needed to get this burden off his back before he returns to LA. He couldn't leave Minnesota without doing this.

James reached out his hands from where he was sitting in the back seat. "We'll all be right with ya, buddy," he said with a smile as Carlos turned around to face him. "You're not doing this alone." Kendall and Logan, who were sitting in the backseat along with James, nodded.

Carlos sighed. "Thanks, guys," he said, taking in a deep breath before putting his hand on the door handle.

"Ready?" Rafael asked.

Carlos nodded once again. "Let's go," he said in a strong voice before opening the door and getting out of Rafael's sedan.

Rafael, James, Kendall, and Logan followed close behind.

As they all stood at the door, Carlos looked to his friends. James gave him a nod of encouragement, and Carlos forced himself to finally knock on the door. At first it was just a light tap, but when he realized how weak his knock sounded, he put more force into it, making the harsh sounding noise echo.

They didn't have to wait long before the door opened, revealing a smug looking red head. "I knew you'd all miss me," she said, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning on her door post. Her hazel eyes gave the Garcia brothers a hard stare. "But sorry, I'm not interested in either of you anymore." She looked to Kendall. "Maybe I'll take blondie over there."

James subconsciously stepped in front of Kendall with a protective demeanor.

Dani just chuckled and rolled her eyes.

"You just think everything is a joke, don't you?" Rafael asked, having been here for only a minute but annoyed beyond his capacity.

Dani rolled her eyes at his question. "No," she replied with a smirk. "Just you. Now is there a reason all of you decided to give me a house call?" Suddenly, a smile crossed her face as she gasped. "Oh I get it. You boys are mad that the police didn't believe your little sob story. You're here to tell me that one day I _will _pay for my actions and that my conscience will haunt me?" She shook her head. She knew Rafael all too well.

"You got lucky," Carlos said angrily.

Dani laughed and shook her head. "Okay, luck...has nothing to do with it. I would say...having a rich dad that's best friends with two lawyers and a judge?" she asked before laughing again. "You Garcias should know what's that like."

Carlos' eyebrows perked up at that statement. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know exactly what that means," Dani replied. "What? You don't think I know about Omar's past." She looked at Rafael. "I wasn't the _only _one in our relationship that kept secrets. You never told me that Omar did drugs and was a dealer. And you also never made it a point to tell that he'd been arrested many times but released right after because Papi Garcia's a cop everyone seemed to sweep all that under the carpet. Especially when _you _got arrested," she said, directed to Rafael. "Papi Garcia's perfect son getting arrested? How would that look?"

Rafael didn't feel the need to explain himself to Dani. But he did feel the need to defend his father's name. "Our father would _never _bail us out if we deserved arrest!" he defended. "Sounds mean, but it's true. Omar's friends bailed him out. Did you really think my dad had a choice but to let Omar get released after that?"

Dani scoffed. "Yeah...keep telling yourself that."

"And Rafael wasn't just arrested!" Carlos finally spoke up. "It was all a misunderstanding! So you leave him, Omar, and Papi alone!" he demanded. "We didn't come to talk about them. We came for you."

"Well a lotta guys come for me," Dani retorted. "So make it specific."

Carlos sighed. "Dani," he began. "You hurt me. When someone hurts me, I tend to ignore it...but when they bring my brothers and my best friends into this, that's when it gets personal." He sighed, clenching his fists at his sides.

Before he could continue, Dani cut him off. "Look," she said patiently. "It's not my fault the police wouldn't believe your story." She let another evil smirk creep on her face. "It's kinda hard for them to believe that a girl as tiny as I am would over power a muscular kid like you," she began. "Not to mention the fact that because you're a celebrity, all of this looks really bad."

Dani played with her hair, continuing her taunts. "Think about it. A celebrity. You're used to getting any girl you want. You came to me, expecting I'd give in, but I refused and you can't take no for an answer."

"Carlos would never do that!" Logan spoke up, tired of hearing Dani's craziness.

Dani shrugged. "You're right," she replied. "But do you know how _tempted_ I was to tell that story?" She laughed. "Do you know how tempted I was to tell them that you fabricated that whole story just so _you'd _seem like a victim and cover up what you did to me?"

"Your friend got arrested because of you!" Carlos told her, trying to ignore the horrible story Dani had come up with.

"Damien?" she clarified. "Damien was a lost puppy. He'll do anything a girl asks as long as you bat your eyelashes and flirt a little."

"Carlos," Kendall said. "We have a flight to catch."

Carlos nodded, remembering the real reason why he came. "I wanted to say goodbye, Dani," he began. "I'll never see you again, and for that, I'm glad."

Dani chuckled and shook her head. "Oh, Carlitos," she said as she brought her hand to his cheek, which the angry Latino quickly swatted away. "I'll always be a part of your life," she said, her voice a bit darker than normal. "And you _will _see me again."

* * *

"You did good, Carlos," James said while everyone was in the car once again. They had one more place to go before they went to the airport.

Carlos shrugged. "I just wanted to know why she did it," he said. "Why anyone would want to do something like that...but I guess I let her get to me...again."

"It's not your fault," Rafael said. "Dani's devious. She fooled me for a good seven months straight, remember?"

Carlos nodded, his gaze shifting to his lap. "I just can't believe the police didn't believe us."

"Papi Garcia believed you," Kendall said with a friendly smile, hoping that would lighten Carlos' mood.

Carlos chuckled. "Papi always believes me." He sighed. "You think he's disappointed in me?"

"No one's disappointed in you!" Kendall cut in, hating the fact that Carlos was so hard on himself. What happened between Carlos and Dani wasn't Carlos' fault. Kendall just wished that he could see that.

Rafael sighed. "Papi was mad," Rafael said. "But he wasn't mad at you. He would never be mad at you. He knows that everything that went on-"

"But he sees me differently now!" Carlos argued, tears coming to his eyes. "E-everyone does..."

"Do you hear how wrong you're being right now?" James asked. He knew that his question came out a bit aggressive sounding, but he could help himself. He couldn't stand the way Carlos had been beating himself up about the whole thing.

"Yeah, Carlos," Logan said. "No one blames you. No one's ashamed of you. You know how we view you? As the crazy, adorable, loving little guy who cares about everyone. That's what we've thought of you for years, and that's what we think of you now. Nothing has changed. Nothing _will _change."

Carlos let a small smile appear on his face. "Really?"

"Really," James, Carlos, Kendall, and Rafael said at once.

Carlos hadn't realized how much they drove, until Rafael's car came to a stop, and the older Garcia parked his car. "We're here," Rafael announced, turning off his car.

Carlos released a sigh before getting out of the car, along with his friends and older brother.

They all walked to the familiar apartment, ready to say goodbye to the person inhabiting it.

Rafael knocked on the door.

Omar opened the door a few moments later, a smile on his face as he invited everyone in.

"Wow," Omar said as everyone made themselves comfortable on his couch. "These two weeks went by so fast."

Carlos sighed. "I'm so sorry I couldn't spend a lotta time with you like I promised," he said, casting his eyes downward.

"It's okay, little bro," Omar replied as he slung his arm over Carlos' shoulders. "What matters is the time we _did _spend together. It's not your fault."

Carlos nodded. "I know...but still."

"But we'll be back in eight months," Kendall promised.

Rafael shook his head. "But Omar and I won't wait that long," he said with a smile. "We're gonna make a trip to visit you guys. It's only fair."

"That's true," Logan said. "We've been in LA for two and a half years now, and you haven't visited."

"Well we will," Omar said confidently. "As soon as I raise enough money," he continued, his gaze shifting toward Rafael.

Rafael sighed and rolled his eyes. "So in other words," he began. "I'll be buying Omar's ticket to make sure he goes."

Carlos and Omar high-fived.

Omar sighed. "I'm gonna miss you, shortie," Omar confessed.

"You'll see him soon," James said, flashing his signature smile. He was really upset when he found what Omar had done to Carlos when they were younger, but as James saw how much Carlos forgave Omar, and how much Omar was willing to change in order to be there for Carlos, James began to respect him more and more.

"So uh...did you guys-" Omar began asking.

"Yeah," Rafael replied with a nod. He already knew what Omar was going to ask.

"How'd it go?" Omar asked, sad that he couldn't be there.

Carlos swallowed. "Not as well as I woulda liked...but it went well, I guess."

Omar let a sad smile cross his face before he began rubbing circles into Carlos' back. "I'm sure you did good."

"I just wanna forget her," Carlos said, burying his face in his hands. "Do you think I will?"

"Of course you will," Kendall said. "You have all of us and we'll help you with every step of the way. Promise."

Carlos nodded. "I know you'll always be there for me," he said. "I just..." Carlos sighed.

"Carlitos," Rafael said. "Just promise me one thing. Promise that if you ever feel down, or if Dani haunts you, you'll talk to someone. It doesn't have to be me, Omar, or Papi. Just someone you trust. Talk to one of the guys, you can even talk to Mrs. Knight! Just say something to someone, okay?"

Carlos just looked at Rafael before looking at everyone else in the room. "O-Okay," he finally responded. "I promise."

* * *

"J-James?" A small voice said.

James was laying comfortable in his bed, sleeping. It was the boys' first night back in LA, and they were beyond tired. James stirred a little in bed before he felt a hand shaking his shoulder.

"James."

James just wanted to sleep. He groaned, exhausted and honestly, a little irritated.

"I'm sorry James but pleases wake up," the voice said again.

Finally, James' drowsy mind cleared, and it finally recognized who had been calling him the whole time.

"Carlos," James muttered as he slowly opened his eyes to see the sad looking Latino hovering over him. "What's wrong, Carlos?" James asked as he started sitting up, pulling Carlos so that he could sit on the bed as well. James allowed Carlos to lay his head on James' broad chest as the tired brunette rubbed circles in Carlos' back.

"I h-had a bad dream," Carlos answered. James noticed a slight hesitation with his answer. "I'm sorry for waking you up I didn't want to but then-"

"It's okay," James said, cutting off Carlos' ramble, still holding him. "Wanna talk about it?"

Carlos was completely still. James took that as a no.

In all honesty, Carlos really _didn't _want to talk about it. He hated how weak it made him seem. But he remembered the promise he made to Rafael. The promise that he would always talk to someone if it got too much for him.

"I'm starting to get a little bit of my memory back from the party," Carlos finally said. "That's all."

"What she did to you?" James asked. He felt Carlos nod against his chest. "She can't hurt you now."

"I know," Carlos replied. "And I'm glad. I-I'll get over all of this, I'm sure I will."

"I know you will," James said. "It just takes time and we'll be hear for every second of it."

Carlos smiled. "I know," he said before releasing a yawn.

James chuckled. He was glad Carlos was so tired, because James was too, and he really wanted to go back to bed, and there was no way he'd let himself sleep if Carlos wasn't alright. "You wanna sleep here the rest of the night?"

Again, Carlos took his time in responding before he nodded.

James smiled. "Okay," he and Carlos began getting comfortable on the small bed. "Good night, Carlos," James whispered before he closed his eyes and went to sleep.

As long as Carlos was alright, James could sleep in peace.

* * *

***Looks at ending* ...piece of crap...**

**Anyway, thank you so much for sticking with this story. It was loads of fun to write even though you all may hate me for letting Dani go free O_O I'm sorry. Review one last time?  
**

**But as for good news... me and TotallyLosingIt are planning a collab! Yup! We're gonna write a story together. ARE YOU GUYS EXCITED?!  
**


End file.
